


Naïf

by Hyliare



Category: One Piece
Genre: Books, Canon-Typical Violence, First Kiss, M/M, Pre-Time Skip, Trapped In A Closet
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-11
Updated: 2016-08-11
Packaged: 2018-08-08 05:12:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,627
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7744642
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hyliare/pseuds/Hyliare
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sanji did not know how it worked. That was okay, though, because no one knew how it worked. People said as much all the time (in his books). Relationships were difficult, they were messy, the guidelines wouldn’t work for everyone, some couples were different…But it couldn’t be that tough to figure out. And until he did, he’d just use the guidelines.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Naïf

**Author's Note:**

  * For [InfernalParadox](https://archiveofourown.org/users/InfernalParadox/gifts).



> A short request for InfernalParadox! Sorry it took so long.

“So, we’re doing this?”

“Yeah. You want to?”

“Of _course_ I want to. Don’t be stupid.”

“I was just asking! Cool it, shit cook.”

“Don’t call me that.”

Zoro slowly stroked the side of his cup with his thumb. There was a warmed bottle of sake between them—the third of the night—and he had dragged his eyes from the cook’s red, pinched face to the rim of it, where some candlelight was caught. He frowned, lifting the cup to drink. Zoro, at least, was content to sit in silence until his brain finished processing. He set the cup down. He licked the last drop of sake from his lips. Finally, he said:

“Why?”

The cook prickled, and Zoro felt the galley heat up, just a little.

“ _If_ we’re doing his, we’re _not_ going to insult each other.”

“… _Why?_ ”

That was what they did, after all. That was a solid quarter of their conversations, probably.

“Because it’s not what people _do!_ It’s not how it works!”

“So, it’s the ‘shit’ part you’ve got a problem with?”

Zoro was pretty sure he saw an eye-twitch.

“Yes.”

“…Alright. Since you know how it works.”

“I do.”

He cracked a smile and watched the cook’s red face get redder.

“ _I do_ ,” Sanji repeated. He crossed his arms over his shirt, which was unbuttoned two buttons lower than usual (an improvement, in Zoro’s opinion). “I know how it works. Everyone knows how it works, marimo.”

“That’s an insult.”

“It’s not, it’s a reality! _Tch_. You can call me ‘cook’ because that’s what I am, and I can call you ‘marimo’ because that’s what _you_ are. But no ‘shit’ or ‘pervert’ or ‘idiot.’ Okay?”

Zoro picked up his cup again, before he remembered it was empty and put it back down. “You _sure_ you know how it works? ’Cause, like, I know you’ve got those _books_ , but—”

“You leave my books out of this! I don’t have any books!”

“’Kay.”

And that was the night that established their summertime anniversary, balmy outside but cool in the dimly-lit galley.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Honestly, Sanji did not know how it worked. That was okay, though, because _no one_ knew how it worked. People said as much all the time (in his books). Relationships were difficult, they were messy, the guidelines wouldn’t work for everyone, some couples were different…But it couldn’t be _that_ tough to figure out. And until he did, he’d just use the guidelines. Not insulting each other was a big one; basically every book mentioned respect as a _key_ tenet for relationship success.

So, they respected each other by cutting out the insults (or trying to), and stopping the physical violence (mostly), and listening to each other when they spoke (sort of). And it was difficult. Honestly, he was exhausted by the effort and he suspected Zoro was, as well.

It had been two and a half days.

Things were going fine, though. Fine.

He sprinkled some salt on the rice in front of him, that he’d spread out to cool in a pan. One of the books was big on _thoughtful gestures_. Zoro liked rice…Especially when it was formed into weird shapes, which apparently made it taste better. Combined with some lean, high-protein filling, it would make a good work-out food. That was a thoughtful gesture.

A while later, he brought a box up to the crow’s nest.

Zoro was seated, staring out to sea and lifting something heavy—normal stuff. He glanced over when the hatch opened, flashed a small smile, and looked back to the window. Sanji did _not_ smile back, or blush, or nearly drop the food he was balancing in one hand (definitely not; why would he?). He finished climbing up and fixed his jacket, then thrust the box forward.

“Here.”

“I miss dinner? Didn’t hear you—”

“No. Dinner isn’t for three hours still. This is, uh…a snack. For you.”

Zoro dropped his weights, just close enough to the floor to not scuff it, and took the box. The lid popped open easily to reveal the three balls of rice inside, laid out on some seaweed and sprinkled with black sesame seeds. The smile returned, bigger than before. Zoro stood up, holding the box to his chest, and took a step into Sanji’s personal space.

“Thanks.”

And then he _kissed_ —

Sanji felt a short-circuit in his brain. He pushed Zoro back with a strangled sound in the back of his throat, lips pursed tight.

“…Uh?”

“What are you doing?”

That might have come out a little bit higher-pitched, and a little bit more hissy, than he’d intended. In fact, it had sounded a lot like something someone would whisper to a person with whom they were hiding from a serial killer, when the other person decided to peek out and check for an all-clear when it almost definitely _wasn’t_ all clear. It hadn’t sounded like something someone would whisper to their new boyfriend after a first kiss.

Zoro made a face, half confused and half frustrated, which his normal face was well-suited to.

“Thanking you.”

“With your mouth?”

A smirk. “…What do _you_ normally thank people with?”

“My—shut up. _Words_. Use your words! You shouldn’t _kiss_ me when we…when we just…It hasn’t even been three days!”

“That doesn’t make sense. I want to kiss you _now_. I thought that was the whole point of this.”

Sanji’s fists clenched at that, and he reached out to shove Zoro back (he didn’t quite stumble, but he held the box of rice balls more tightly). “It’s not the whole point!”

“It’s part of the point, though, right? Don’t your books say something about it?”

“They…”

The books talked about “physical intimacy” in a variety of different ways. Some said it was important, others said it wasn’t, and the rest took a middling position and said that every couple would decide on the importance of it together. That last one…would probably be a good fit for them. And Zoro had basically just taken a stand, so…

Sanji blinked back to attention. Soft brown eyes were looking back at him, surprisingly patient.

“You’re nervous?”

“Not…really.”

“Mhm.”

Zoro moved in close again. Sanji could feel warm breath on his cheek.

“You haven’t done this before, right? Well…me neither. So don’t be so self-conscious about it.”

“‘We’ll figure it out together’?”

“Yeah, exactly.”

Sanji sighed out through his nose, the hair in his face fluttering. “…Okay. Sure. But don’t expect me to... _do that_. Yet.”

“Is it okay if _I_ do it?”

“Of course! I’m not— _ack_.” Zoro had cut him off by surging forward with another kiss. It landed next to his mouth, not on it, but that didn’t seem to make any difference at all to the faulty wires in Sanji’s brain. They sparked again, flashing through his cheeks and down every limb and his arms shoved Zoro away again, of their own accord.

“ _Of course_ , huh?”

“…Of course. But that, uh. That might keep happening. For a while.”

“If you’re sure.”

“I’m _sure_.”

Sanji reached out, long fingers twisting in the fabric of Zoro’s shirt. He pulled and Zoro stumbled forward, still balancing his snack. Their foreheads knocked together—neither of them winced.

“…I’m sure. I’m just not used to being _that_ kind of close.”

The cook’s gaze was wandering, mostly focused around the weights on the floor. Zoro stared dead ahead.

“I get it. It doesn’t _all_ have to change, though. You can get used to it without getting _not_ used to the other kinds.”

“Heh. What, you miss me kicking your ass?”

“ _Yeah_.”

Sanji’s jaw clenched and his eyes snapped forward. “Don’t tease—”

“I’m _not_. I miss sparring with you. It feels like it’s been a year, and it hasn’t even been a week! Fighting is what we _do_. We shouldn’t have to stop just because some idiot wrote a book about it. That idiot wasn’t _us_.”

“I know that! I just don’t want to mess this up!”

“…Good. Me neither.”

As the case happened to be, not _wanting_ to mess something up was a good first step in not messing it up.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

It continued.

Zoro reached over Sanji’s shoulder to put a dish in the sink and kissed his cheek, receiving a slap of damp dish towel in return.

They went on a supply run and as Sanji balanced a heavy sack of flour on Zoro’s back, he got a kiss on the neck. Their heads knocked together at the temple as Sanji flailed.

Kisses on his head, his face, his _hands_ (the first one of those had made Sanji blush so hard he was worried about a nosebleed, which Zoro would _never_ have let him live down). The kicks, head butts, and shoves started getting gentler.

A poorly-picked island saw them hiding from a squadron of marines in a small closet. Legs tangled, pressed chest to chest, straining to listen to the footsteps outside, and Zoro closed the gap to brush their lips together. Sanji held his breath.

He kissed back.

Zoro laughed low, almost wheezy, and squeezed at the only part of Sanji he could reach (elbow). “So _this_ is what does it for you?”

Sanji stepped on his foot. “You started it!”

Zoro really did wheeze at that, and Sanji slapped a hand over his mouth to keep it quiet. Their lives _were_ still reasonably in danger. “Shut _up_.”

Later, when they stumbled from the closet shaking out their pins and needles, Sanji hooked Zoro around the neck and hauled him in for a kiss. Zoro sighed out through his nose, eyes heavy-lidded. “…When we get back to the ship, I’m using your books for moving-target practice.”

“I don’t have any books.”

And after Zoro’s practice, he didn’t.


End file.
